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One World with Zain Asher
Trump To Address Joint Session Of Congress Tuesday; Trump On Zelenskyy: This Guy Doesn't Want There To be Peace; CNN Poll: Trump's Job Approval Rating At 48 Percent Among Americans; Republican Senator Leaves Town Hall early After Audience Boos; Senior Official: Pause In U.S. Offensive Cyber Ops Against Russia; U.S. Business Feel Impact Of Soaring Egg Costs; Aired 12:00-1:00p ET
Aired March 03, 2025 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:00:45]
ZAIN ASHER, CNN ANCHOR: Something nobody wants to see. The British prime minister speaks out on the Oval Office meeting that shook up everyone's
Friday.
BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. The second hour of ONE WORLD starts right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): The White House has become an arm of the Kremlin.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Ripple effect. How Democrats are gearing up for President Trump's address to Congress.
ASHER: On a nation divided, American voters give the president a report card. New CNN polling is just ahead.
And later.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a big eye-opener and it's a big interest whenever they see, oh, he's the owner of the farm, he runs the farm, and he's
Latino, because you tend to see my kind of people working the farms, not owning them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Meet the 20-something Texan who's flipping the market for eggs upside down.
Hello, everyone. Live from New York, I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: And I'm Zain Asher. You are watching ONE WORLD.
New comments from President Trump about Volodymyr Zelenskyy. And they continue to question the Ukrainian president's commitment to reaching a
peace deal. Zelenskyy was quoted in an "Associated Press" article over the weekend saying an end to the war is still very, very far away.
Trump referenced that quote and posted to social media moments ago saying, America will not put up with it for much longer. This comes after European
leaders rallied behind the wartime leader in London, this weekend, trying to find peace for his country.
A short time ago, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer addressed the House of Commons about Friday's clash in the Oval Office.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: What happened in his subsequent meeting with President Zelensky is something nothing nobody in this House
wants to see. But I do want to be crystal clear, we must strengthen our relationship with America.
For our security, for our technology, for our trade, and investment. They are and always will be indispensable. And we will never choose between
either side of the Atlantic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[12:05:01]
ASHER: The U.S. President is set to address a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
Let's bring CNN's Alayna Treene outside the White House for us.
So one of the things that the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, said when he addressed the House of Commons is that Donald Trump's commitment to
Ukraine is sincere, but we must avoid the pains of the past when it comes to dealing with Russia.
I want to ask you about that line. Donald Trump's commitment to Ukraine is sincere. A lot of people will question that, Alayna, given what we saw on
Friday. Is it sincere?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: I mean, I think really looking forward now too as well is the question of where do they go from here. And
look, I think the question between whether he is committed and sincere in that commitment to Ukraine or Zelenskyy.
We've now heard from several top cabinet officials, Zain and Bianna, that perhaps Zelenskyy is not the leader that they think is the one who will
help end peace. And there's really questions now of where do they go from here.
And I do want to bring back to what you mentioned of what the president posted on social media just moments ago, because both him, but also many
people in his cabinet, those who are continuing to have discussions about moving forward with a peace deal, many of them are questioning Zelenskyy's
intentions and also expressing skepticism that he actually does want to find an end to this war.
So I'm just going to read to you some more of what the president posted. He called that statement that Zelenskyy made saying that the war -- the end of
the war is still very, very far away. He said, quote, this is the worst statement that could have been made by Zelenskyy, and America will not put
up for it -- with it for much longer.
He went on to say that this guy does not want peace as long as he has America's backing. And Europe, in the meeting they had with Zelenskyy,
stated flatly that they cannot do the job without the United States.
So again, you're still hearing this kind of skepticism and harsh rhetoric from the president. You also heard similarly from his national security
adviser, Michael Waltz, this morning, again, questioning whether or not they believe that Zelenskyy is ready to make the type of concessions and
the type of next steps that they believe is necessary for a peace deal.
All to say, you know, where would they go from here is going to be the big question. And again, in my conversations with White House officials, Trump
administration officials, they are still committed to finding an off-ramp to this war. They are continuing to have discussions about what to do about
moving forward, but the frustration with these officials and these cabinet members, particularly those who were in the Oval Office meeting on Friday
alongside the president, is still very much real.
And so that is going to be a key question is really what are the next steps on this, but the rhetoric that we are hearing the president and his cabinet
use is still very much the same that we heard in the aftermath of that meeting on Friday and over the weekend.
ASHER: Alayna Treene, live for us. Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Well, both the White House and the Kremlin are accusing the Ukrainian president of not wanting peace. But all the while, Russia
continues to drop bombs on its democratic neighbor, including this drone attack on an apartment building in Kharkiv over the weekend.
ASHER: Volodymyr Zelenskyy says in order for peace to prevail, the airstrikes must stop. Exhausted Ukrainians who have endured three years of
brutal war are beginning to lose hope. And some have angry words for the Russian president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETRO FILIPKYL, KHARKIV RESIDENT (through translator): I have glass shards in my hair. I was next to a window, then an explosion wave hit. There was a
lot of blood.
Maybe the way that I'm talking now does not make any sense, but I do not believe in this ceasefire talk. They call Ukraine guilty. What is it guilty
of? How is it guilty? How can it be guilty if the monster attacked? He can't even be called a human being.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: CNN's Nick Paton Walsh joins us now live in Kyiv. And there you see the real impact of Russia's war on Ukraine, not only through emotion,
but through battle scars and wounds from civilians there who have been harmed, killed over the course of the last three years.
It's been almost 72 hours since that now infamous White House meeting between the two leaders. How are Ukrainians now adjusting, not only to that
disaster of a meeting, but perhaps is there some reassurance from what we saw take place in London and in Europe over the weekend after that?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: I think this goes day by day, to be honest. I mean, yes, many Ukrainians would have
seen the scenes in London, the summit of European leaders, the meeting with King Charles III and seen that sort of rehabilitation on the world stage
after the extraordinary scenes in the Oval Office.
But bear in mind, you know, just as you heard from Alayna, literally hour by hour, we hear continued pressure from Trump's cabinet on the mere
position of Volodymyr Zelenskyy. There seems to be this enduring desire for him to somehow potentially publicly apologize around this to heal the rift
certainly and indeed.
As we saw I think roundabout, prior to the minerals deal being essentially pushed through by the intervention of French President Emmanuel Macron it
seemed, this pressure rising yet again.
[12:10:05]
And the longer I think this narrative moves forwards, we hear it you know for throughout Sunday again today, although the Commerce Secretary, Howard
Lutnick, has said that President Trump does not want to see Zelenskyy leave his position and he's not interfering in Ukrainian politics.
A lot of the rest of his cabinet are casting doubt on whether Zelenskyy is the man to lead Ukraine and that ultimately will inject, I think, an
element of anger amongst Ukrainians certainly but then puts the position of Zelensky as kind of an exchange for continued American assistance.
Not that that is actually concretely being offered by the Trump administration at this point either. Zelenskyy, as you saw there I mean
very defiant frankly that answer about resigning a way of twisting it back and suggesting give me NATO membership an impossibility.
I don't feel here that necessarily there's pressure on him to depart at all, in fact, increased support. And I should point out to viewers the
mechanism for changing Ukraine's president during wartime.
Well, it simply doesn't exist. I mean, yes, he could resign, and then the Speaker of Parliament would take over for a limited period until elections
came forward. Most of his powers would be there, but that's not a particularly inspiring figure for many Ukrainians. And so that introduces
own complexity. And then you have to deal with the legal issue of how you would hold elections.
Well, most officials we speak to here talk about the need for six months to prepare in peacetime for a vote. If the vote is not legitimate, if it is
somehow a fudge or has doubts cast upon it, that simply feeds the false Russian narrative that Zelenskyy is somehow illegitimate.
So we're dealing with an exceptionally complex issue here where it does sound that the Trump cabinet simply think Zelenskyy can shift aside one day
and someone else take over.
The whole notion of a replacement process would disrupt Ukraine so much that it simply couldn't sign on to a peace process at all, really
legitimately. There'd be so much confusion and political grayness here.
So that, I think, is a part of a missing picture here, too. And I think also potentially at this stage the increased desire to see Zelenskyy
essentially give something of a groveling apology to the White House.
It looks more distant from here. We don't know how European leaders could potentially intervene here and soften matters again. But it's hour by hour
changing and looking increasingly dark for Kyiv.
GOLODRYGA: And the irony is not lost that the conversation over legitimate presidents is taking place in Ukraine as opposed to in Russia where one
could go on about the legitimacy and the free and fair elections that Russia has not had in a number of years.
Nick Paton Walsh, thank you so much.
ASHER: Well, let's bring in Oleksandr Merezhko, who heads the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Ukrainian Parliament and joins us live now from
Kyiv.
So, Oleksandr, I don't know if you heard what our Nick Paton Walsh was saying, but he was essentially reacting to or rather giving the Ukrainian
perspective on the calls in the United States, especially among Republicans, that Zelenskyy should step aside, that the Trump
administration doesn't necessarily want to negotiate with Zelenskyy anymore after what we saw happen in the Oval Office on Friday with a lot of members
of the Trump administration essentially saying that he needs to be more grateful, that he's ungrateful for the help that the U.S. has given him so
far.
Nick Paton Walsh was saying, listen, it's not that easy to remove a president during wartime. Obviously, you have to call elections and that
takes six months in the best of times to prepare for elections in Ukraine. Just give me your reaction to this idea that the U.S., from being a staunch
ally, you know, just this time last year of Ukraine, is now essentially saying that we don't want to negotiate with Zelenskyy. We want somebody
else. Your reaction to that.
OLEKSANDR MEREZHKO, CHAIRMAN, FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE, UKRAINIAN PARLIAMENT: Well, I'm absolutely shocked by these statements because it's
hard to imagine that we're allies, after all, the United States and Ukraine. And when you treat your allies, when you treat the president of
the country, which is your friend and ally, worse than you treat Putin. You know, this is amazing. This is -- I couldn't imagine anything like that in
my worst nightmares to happen.
As for President Zelenskyy, he was elected democratically and he stays high commander in chief. And it's not up to someone from other countries to
decide to dictate Ukrainians who should be our president. It's only up to our people. We don't dictate any other country who should be the president
or vice president because it's violation of international law. It's interference in internal affairs of Ukraine.
And even this is a typical Putin's narrative. This is exactly what Putin wants. And unfortunately, regrettably, he's pushing this narrative, this
idea destructive for Ukraine through some American friends. This is amazing. This is amazing what's going on. It's absolutely unacceptable.
It's impossible from legal point of view, from political point of view, and most importantly, Ukrainian people don't want this to happen during the
war.
[12:15:06]
GOLODRYGA: Yes. It was also quite alarming to hear President Trump say last week that he had spoken with President Putin a number of times. I don't
know that any of that had been made official. Had we known about that, any transcripts released.
But, Oleksandr, to the point of whether or not President Zelenskyy did himself any favors in terms of his own demeanor, given what we saw the
prime ministers and presidents, that preceded him coming in meeting in the Oval Office, Prime Minister Stammer, President Macron, really sort of
knowing how to speak Trump's language and perhaps save some of the more difficult conversations for off-camera.
I know you had even spoken in the days before this meeting following the buildup of the tensions between the two after Prime Minister -- after
President Zelenskyy said that President Trump lives in a disinformation bubble. You had said that sometimes we have to take into consideration, not
just what we want to say, but how it will be received by the other party or how it will be distorted.
Do you think that he could have perhaps spoken differently to avoid that fiasco that we saw Friday, and perhaps not be in this situation right now?
MEREZHKO: Well, the thing is that I believe that there is only one thing which can help in such situations is a direct face-to-face talk between
both presidents. That's the only way. Behind the closed doors, without the press, without the third-party which is interfering and trying to disrupt
this dialogue.
This is the only solution. And so President Zelenskyy, just imagine yourself in his shoes, so to speak. He came a long way. He is a president
of embattled country, fighting desperately for survival. And he wanted to present his arguments.
And from my point of view, he was totally respectful towards President Trump. And all of a sudden, he gets this inadequate reaction.
You know, I believe in laws of hospitality. You know, if you are hosting someone, you should -- you should do it even if you disagree, even if you
don't like this person personally, you know, but still, you're a host, and you should be respectful with regard to a person who represents the
country, the victim of aggression, the victim of genocide committed by Russians against Ukrainians.
ASHER: You know, it's not just about what happened on Friday, it's also about what's happened since, just the fact that we got word that the U.S.
is now pausing its offensive in U.S. cybersecurity operations against Russia. This is since what happened on Friday. We're getting this news.
And then there are fears that the U.S. could possibly cut pending aid, intelligence and other support for Ukraine. So when you look at that,
right, you're looking at, A, yes, of course, the scenes that played out in the Oval Office that took everyone, not just you, everyone around the world
was shocked by them, but then how the U.S. administration is conducting itself in its position towards Ukraine after the fallout. Your reaction to
that.
MEREZHKO: I have only one message to the administration of President Biden, to American people -- to the administration of President Trump and to
American people. Only one message. When you're talking about cutting off military aid to Ukraine, when you are talking about cutting off
intelligence information, you should remember that behind these are human lives that right now the United States, by providing air defense, by
providing weaponry, you help to save Ukrainian lives, human lives of civilian soldiers.
If you stop doing this, there will be many more casualties. That's why it's so dangerous. And I hope, you know, President Trump and his administration
should care how they will be remembered in history.
And it's also important, I think it should stop them from doing things which play into the hands of Putin and which help Putin to kill Ukrainians.
GOLODRYGA: Yes, no doubt. I mean, it does seem every single time we hear of a conversation between President Trump and President Putin. President Trump
does seem to be reciting a lot of his talking points. We saw that in the first term and now we're seeing it again in the early weeks of the second.
Oleksandr Merezhko, thank you so much for your time.
ASHER: Thank you.
All right. Coming up, an outpouring of anger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. ROGER MARSHALL (R-KS): If you all keep cutting me off, if you're rude and you're mean, I'm going to leave.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Frustrated Americans are making their voices heard at town halls throughout the country, particularly in deep red Republican states. And
some lawmakers don't know how to handle it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:20:34]
ASHER: Right now, the American public's opinion of Donald Trump's presidency is more negative than positive, that's according to a new CNN
poll.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. Fifty-two percent of Americans are unhappy with how President Trump is handling his job since returning to the White House in
January. Forty-eight percent approve.
CNN's Harry Enten joins us live now from New York. So, Harry, it has been quite the first couple of months into this administration. Lot of people
are -- I mean, people have really mixed reviews in terms of what they're seeing. It's everything from -- look at him, he's like bobbing around. I'm
trying to concentrate.
GOLODRYGA: Where is she going with this?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: I'm energetic. I want to get out of the gate.
ASHER: You know what, I don't even know where I'm going with it.
GOLODRYGA: Just go.
ASHER: Just, yes, just take it away, Harry.
ENTEN: Let me tell you that the American people may have mixed reviews on Donald Trump, but they have only positive reviews since you've expanded
from one hour to two hours, all right?
ASHER: Oh, we love you.
ENTEN: See, see, I'm here to charm you.
ASHER: Harry, we love you.
ENTEN: Beautiful.
GOLODRYGA: We'll pay you after the show for saying that.
ENTEN: Thank you. Thank you.
OK. Let's get into Donald Trump's numbers, all right? You know, I want to just sort of point out, we'll take a look at all the polling data because
you know I don't just like looking at one poll. I like looking at all of them.
And you see more red on your screen in black, and what that essentially is Donald Trump's net approval rating, approval minus this rule. You see Ipsos
minus six, CNN minus four, Marist a minus four. CBS gives you a plus two. So not terrible there, but really mixed reviews of what's going on, perhaps
leaning a little bit more towards the negative than towards the positive.
Perhaps one little positive for Donald Trump is the trend line here, which is in mid-February, we had him at minus five points on the net approval
rating.
In late February, our latest poll, we have him at minus four points. So he's not going down any further, but if you're in the negative territory,
then you really don't want to go down. You want to be heading towards positive. Here, this is just within the margin of error, so there really
hasn't been much movement.
Now, the question is, what is cooking? What is going on? Why are these numbers the way they are where he's negative?
All right. Trump has the right priorities. Well, if you want to be on the plus side of the ledger, you want the yes here to be over 50 percent, but
it's in fact south of 50 percent, at 40 percent.
The majority say no, 52 percent. He does not have the right priorities. Awfully difficult to be on the positive side of the ledger when the
majority of the American public says he does not have the right priorities.
Now, what's going on? Let's dig a little bit deeper. Why don't folks say he has the right priorities? Well, what about inflation, right? This is the
whole (INAUDIBLE). This is what it's all about. This is the reason Donald Trump defeated Kamala Harris back in November. It was because the American
people liked what he had to say on inflation.
[12:25:10]
But here's the key nugget, they don't like what he has to say anymore. Trump's net approval rating on inflation. Look at this. The majority, 54
percent disapproved. This is something we've seen in poll after poll after poll.
The American folks are not giving him the benefit of the doubt on this. And that is why he is in the negative, not the positive.
But again, to wrap it all up, you two are in my positive book every single day of the week.
ASHER: Oh, he loves us, see.
GOLODRYGA: And also, Harry, 100 percent approval rating on the haircut over the weekend.
ENTEN: Oh, thank you so much.
GOLODRYGA: So there you go.
ENTEN: I look like Elvis Presley combined with James Dean. That's what I look like.
GOLODRYGA: A young Elvis. A young Elvis at that, in fact.
ENTEN: A young Elvis, yes. A young Elvis.
GOLODRYGA: Thank you so much.
ENTEN: Bye.
GOLODRYGA: Well, disapproval with the White House isn't just showing up in the poll numbers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CAR HONKING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: This is a scene that greeted U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance when his family traveled to Vermont over the weekend for ski vacation, with
protesters holding signs saying, go ski in Russia and resist fascism.
Angry constituents are also showing up at Republican town halls demanding answers. CNN's Louise McLoughlin reports that some lawmakers are not
responding well. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That wasn't hurting. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK.
LOUISE MCLOUGHLIN, CNN PRODUCER (voice-over): Republican Senator Roger Marshall left his town hall at a county hospital in Kansas early.
Colin McRoberts, who captured this moment, traveled about five hours with his mother to attend.
COLIN MCROBERTS, ATTENDED TOWN HALL: We had heard about the town hall on Reddit from someone who said they'd called into his office and found out
about it, but I could not find any information about it online.
We kind of got the impression that the senator did not want people to come to the town hall, which made me think it might be a particularly
interesting thing to go to.
MCLOUGHLIN (voice-over): McRoberts said when he arrived, they had to move to a larger space.
MCROBERTS: I would say there was room for maybe 30 people max. They had some folding chairs set out for about that many. And within, I would say 20
minutes before the scheduled start time, it was overflowing.
And one of Marshall's staffers came in and looked both surprised and I would say a little bit alarmed at the number of people and some of the
signs that were critical of him and they pretty quickly moved us to sort of an atrium space.
MCLOUGHLIN (voice-over): McRoberts said many who spoke were concerned about Ukraine, healthcare and the state of democracy.
MARSHALL: You know this one, the rudest audience I've ever met.
(CROWD CHEERING)
MCLOUGHLIN (voice-over): And lots were concerned about veteran benefits.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I support the veterans. But what you're doing right now, like the government is doing right now, as far as cutting out those jobs, a
huge percentage of those people, and I know you care about the veterans, are veterans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that is a damn shame.
MCROBERTS: There definitely seem to be a lot of veterans there and even more people who are concerned about veterans, and particularly in the
context of the firings of massive numbers of federal workers, a lot of them are veterans.
We heard some questions about that, in particular the gentleman who spoke at the very end, the last question Marshall took and the one that seemed to
send him out of the room.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not a Democrat, but I'm worried about the veterans, man.
(CLAPPING)
MARSHALL: All right. Well, I yielded to -- one of my elders. I appreciate his comments. I think it's a great -- I'm not going to -- we don't have
time for everyone to stand up. I do got two more commitments today. Appreciate everybody making the drive out. And God bless America. Thank
you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Get him out.
MCROBERTS: It was a surprise to everyone I think to the point that no one really knew what was happening until he was out of the room and somebody
started to yell, you know, why are you leaving? Where are you going? You've got 20 minutes left. And it was a very quick exit.
MCLOUGHLIN (voice-over): A spokesperson for Senator Marshall said, quote, Democrat operatives who couldn't place Oakley, Kansas on a map before today
sabotaged a local town hall even still Senator Marshall stayed and answered every question that was asked for 45 minutes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ASHER: All right. Still to come, we're learning that the United States has suspended some cyber operations against Moscow, why one senior U.S.
official is calling it a major blow, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:30:02]
ASHER: And welcome back to ONE WORLD. I'm Zain Asher.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm Bianna Golodryga.
A senior U.S. official says Washington is suspending operations and planning for offensive cyber operations against Russia. Now, the official
calls the move a major blow and says there's concern that it could make the U.S. more vulnerable to potential cyber-attacks from Russia.
ASHER: The pause comes as the Trump administration seeks a rapprochement with Russia three years into Moscow's war against Ukraine and just days
after this tense encounter at the White House.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You're not in a good position. You don't have the cards right now. With us you start having
cards.
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: We're not playing cards.
TRUMP: Right now, you don't -- you're playing cards. You're playing cards.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: Well, one democratic senator says the White House is playing right into the hands of the Kremlin.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MURPHY: The White House has become an arm of the Kremlin. Every single day, you hear from the National Security Advisor, from the President of the
United States, from his entire national security team, Kremlin talking points.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: CNN cyber security reporter, Sean Lyngaas, joins us live now from Washington, D.C.
So I mean, I think the big question that everyone has is what does this mean for national security, this move by the U.S..
SEAN LYNGAAS, CNN SECURITY REPORTER: Right. It's not unusual to pause cyber operations, right? There's a lot going on in the world sometimes if you're
in a diplomatic engagement with an adversary country or even a friendly country, you might pause cyber operations to help warm the relationship.
But, obviously, as you mentioned at the top, this comes against the backdrop of other signals that the White House is sort of warming to the
Kremlin, something that is concerning Ukrainian and other U.S. allies.
Right now, what we can tell you is that, yes, Cyber Command has paused those operations. On a given day, on a given week, the U.S. and Russia are
in a state of constant confrontation in cyberspace. The Kremlin has, through its intelligence services, some very formidable hacking teams that
are able to disrupt critical infrastructure, things like power plants if they wanted to.
[12:35:05]
And so what we're hearing from sources is that, yes, this is a source of concern from some U.S. officials who think that this could indeed make the
U.S. more vulnerable to Kremlin hacking operations.
We're going to have to see how long this pauses in effect. And I'm sure at some point, U.S. Cyber Command, which is the military's hacking and
defensive unit, they will resume operations, I would assume, at some point.
But right now we have this strong effort from the administration to try to improve relations with the Kremlin, and this appears to be one more piece
of that strategy.
ASHER: Our Sean Lyngaas, live for us there. Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: All right. Time now for the exchange. We want to take a closer look at some of these developments that have upended U.S. foreign policy.
Joining us now is James Stavridis, a CNN senior military analyst. We are so excited to have you on board. The retired admiral is the former NATO
Supreme Allied Commander and a partner at the Carlyle Group, a global investment firm.
Admiral, thank you so much for taking the time to join us now. If you could respond to, A, now, the Pentagon saying that it's going to stop counter or
offensive cyber operations against Russia, as well as these comments from Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson today saying this new
administration in the White House is rapidly changing all foreign policy configurations, and it largely aligns with our vision.
How are you interpreting all of this?
JAMES STAVRIDIS, CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: Both very worrisome. Let's start with the cyber side of this. Our reporter has it about right. It's
not unheard of to kind of hit pause when President Obama, for example, was traveling in different parts of the world. We might alter some of our
operational patterns.
But the idea that we would particularly stop planning offensive cyber and, secondly, talk about, hey, we're not going to do this in a move to try and
create reconciliation with Russia, I think that's the wrong signal to be sending right now.
In terms of the comments from Peskov, as you know very well, Bianna, he is very elevated in the Kremlin world. He's one of Putin's two or three very
closest advisors. So when you hear from him that, oh, everything feels very aligned, I think it gives real credence to what the senator was saying a
moment ago about the deployment of effectively Putin talking points. Both of those are very worrisome.
ASHER: Just in terms of the fallout from what we saw in the Oval Office on Friday, I think the question a lot of people have, especially in Ukraine is
just given what is at stake. I mean, the future of their country is really at stake at this point.
How on earth does Zelenskyy salvage his relationship with President Trump? What does he need to do?
STAVRIDIS: I think first and foremost, he needs to shore up his alignment, and I think he's done it pretty well since that disastrous meeting with the
Europeans. And the Europeans are stepping up, by and large. Not every European country is, but certainly France, Germany, hearing the most from
the United Kingdom.
You're seeing him there with the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer. So shore up your allies that you can count on.
I think number two, he needs to try and reinvigorate the minerals deal because the Trump administration is nothing if not transactional.
So starting to move that deal back toward the conversation would make some sense, perhaps doing that in concert with those European allies you see
standing there.
And then third and finally, I think from a personality perspective, he should be able to communicate in ways that are not offensive to the Trump
administration. That doesn't mean, nor should there be, in my view, quote, an apology, unquote.
But certainly him sending signals of willingness to continue the conversation, willing to come back to Washington. Mineral deal can work.
I'm here with my good friends in Europe. I think getting behind that idea of transatlantic unity before it all falls apart would be his best bet.
GOLODRYGA: When you hear the U.K. Prime Minister say that part of their peace plan could include European boots on the ground and planes in the
air, how realistic is that in your view without a specific U.S. backstop?
STAVRIDIS: I think if the Europeans want to do it, even without a U.S. backstop, they are capable of doing it. Let's just do the numbers for a
minute, Bianna. The population of Europe's 500 million. Russia is 140 million. The defense budget of Europe, collectively, is around 350 to 400
billion. Russia's about 150, 160 billion. The Europeans have about two million troops, active duty, well-trained. Russia has about a million, and
half of those are deeply engaged in a war.
[12:40:28]
So the capacity is there on the part of Europe. The question is, is the political will and the unity there? We'll know more of that in the days and
weeks ahead.
ASHER: As you know, ever since the fallout after Friday's meeting, Macron and Starmer have been scrambling. I mean, they've really stepped, you and I
were talking about this earlier. They've really stepped up to the plate, especially Kier Starmer, who right away invited Zelenskyy to the U.K.
In fact, he already had a planned meeting with him. He just moved it earlier and then gave him an audience with King Charles as well.
France and the U.K. have come together to propose a partial one-month potential ceasefire deal in Ukraine. They still need to take that to the
U.S., though. I mean, you know, we talk about European leaders taking charge, but all roads still go back to the United States. They still need
the U.S. support even for that.
What is America's likely reaction to that going to be do you think?
STAVRIDIS: Zain, I think that ultimately, if the Europeans really come together as they're capable of doing, not only U.K. and France, but
Germany, Poland, the Nordics, the Baltics, all of whom are strong supporters of Ukraine, send that signal back to Washington, couple it to
the minerals deal which is important to Washington, and show her willingness to put more of their capacity on the line as I was just talking
about with Bianna.
If they do that, I think there's a better than even chance that Washington, ultimately, will see its way forward to be part of that peace negotiation.
Don't forget, Donald Trump wants peace, not only for his personal prestige, he's put a lot of commentary behind this, but also the global economy. If
we want that to continue functioning, we have got to avoid major cracks developing in it.
I think the incentives run somewhat better than even for Washington to come together. Again, key, the European unity. Let's see how that develops in
the next two to four weeks.
GOLODRYGA: Quickly, I have to ask you this question, but how confident are you of President Trump's commitment to NATO and specifically Article Five?
STAVRIDIS: I'm worried about both. And I'll tell you, as a former Supreme Allied commander, you know, I wrote a piece the other day called The Last
Days of NATO? Question mark. I hope I don't have to redo it and take the question mark off. You're showing the alliance right now.
I think that there's still a strong value proposition for the United States in favor of being in the alliance because of all that capacity we talked
about a moment ago, because these are partners who share our values.
I think Trump is a skeptic. I don't think he's a skeptic. I know he's a skeptic, but I'm hoping that value proposition ultimately holds true. And
if it does, he'll have to stand behind Article Five in order to make that real.
GOLODRYGA: I believe that officials in Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, all were reading your op-ed very carefully and with alarm.
Retired Admiral James Stavridis, we are so thrilled to have you here at CNN.
ASHER: Yes, we are.
GOLODRYGA: And please, please, please, become a regular on our show. Thank you for the time.
STAVRIDIS: You know I will. And one of the reasons I wanted to be aligned with CNN is because of its international footprint. I'm proud to be honored
with both of you.
GOLODRYGA: Thank you.
ASHER: Thank you so much. Thank you.
GOLODRYGA: Well, still to come for us, the man who saved two million babies. Australia pays tribute to a truly pioneering blood donor.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:45:20]
ASHER: Well, you know what they say, you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs.
GOLODRYGA: You do you really say that?
ASHER: But for many farmers in the U.S. right now, it isn't so much about breaking eggs as breaking even.
GOLODRYGA: That's right. Prices have jumped to all-time highs due to an outbreak of bird flu, and businesses are feeling the effects.
Marvin Hurst has more from Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARVIN HURST, REPORTER (voice-over): Michael Jimenez hopes to catch up on a 347-dozen egg backlog, because of a cold snap in February. He owns JMZ
Farms in Bridgeport, which originated, he says, from a chick he got at church on Easter Sunday.
MICHAEL JIMENEZ, OWNER, JMZ FARMS: My family is not in agriculture at all, but I've always had a love and passion for animals. And I correlated that
with business. And so I was like, how can I turn it into a business? Farming.
HURST (voice-over): The 23-year-old says he's self-taught from YouTube on how to become a chicken farmer. He turned that one Easter chick that
started laying eggs into 500 on 25 acres. Jimenez says he raises a better egg that's better for the body. And he sells them at a higher price.
JIMENEZ: Me, I sell my eggs for a premium. They're $12.50 a dozen. That's higher than what an average grocery store has them from.
HURST (voice-over): It's a part of a monthly subscription that will bring the eggs right to your door for a four-dozen minimum.
JIMENEZ: Thank you.
HURST (voice-over): Jimenez makes rounds in Keller, Westlake, Southlake Trophy Club and his reach is growing.
CHUCK COLE, OWNER, CORNER MARKET: This is the worst. Nothing this severe before.
HURST (voice-over): Chuck Cole's Corner Market in Dallas is about 90 minutes from JMZ Farms. The two have no connection. Cole though has Queen
Elizabeth here and 11 other hens. But they don't lay enough eggs to carry his egg-heavy deli, cafe and bakery.
COLE: It's starting to get hard to get eggs from wholesalers.
HURST (voice-over): He says he orders about 90 dozen eggs each week and with new wholesale allotments that he found out about this week, it could
put more pressure where there's already a pinch.
HURST: So every egg that you use, every egg that somebody buys, is it a gain or is it a loss for you?
COLE: It's a small gain.
JIMENEZ: Come on in.
HURST (voice-over): Back in Bridgeport Jimenez says he gained about 85 new customers just this month. And for this first generation farmer, this is
the beginning of his future expansion.
JIMENEZ: It's a big eye opener and it's a big interest whenever they see, oh, he's the owner of the farm, he runs the farm, and he's Latino. Because
you tend to see my kind of people working the farms, not owning them. So we're changing things around here.
HURST (voice-over): In Bridgeport, Marvin Hurst, CBS News, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GOLODRYGA: In what appears to be the first major test for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as America's top health official, he's speaking out about the measles
outbreak in Texas.
ASHER: Kennedy wrote an op-ed for Fox News. In it he says, the outbreak is a call to action for Americans to, quote, reaffirm our commitment to public
health. He said, parents should consult with healthcare providers about their options to get the measles vaccine.
But he didn't explicitly recommend the vaccine and said that the decision to vaccinate is a personal one, which, of course, is a significant
departure from previous top health officials who have openly called for vaccines as a way to stop measles and other outbreaks. Nearly 150 people
have been infected with measles in Texas and one child has died.
GOLODRYGA: Well tributes are being paid to an Australian man who saved the lives of more than two million babies by donating blood throughout most of
his lifetime.
[12:50:01]
Known as the man with the golden arm, James Harrison's plasma contained a rare antibody called anti-D. Anti-D is used to make a medication that's
given to pregnant mothers whose blood would otherwise attack their unborn child.
ASHER: Incredible story. Harrison started donating blood as a teenager, having himself needed transfusions following lung surgery at age 14. From
then on, Harrison made donations every two weeks until he was in his 80s.
We heard from him in 2018 about how he gave more than a thousand donations in his lifetime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES HARRISON, BLOOD DONOR: Maybe it was my ego. And we got up to about 800 and I said, oh well I'll go for a thousand. And then I got to a
thousand, I said well I might as well keep going. It doesn't hurt. It is good to know that my anti-D is doing the right thing and making a lot of
mothers and a lot of fathers very happy. So let's hope the next person in the line steps up and breaks my record. That would be great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: I mean, that is such an incredible. What a feel-good giving human being.
All right. Harrison died at the age of 88. We'll be right back with more.
GOLODRYGA: We needed that story.
ASHER: We did.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ASHER: You're looking at the carnival celebrations in Dusseldorf, Germany today. The float clearly takes aim at Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.
GOLODRYGA: Yes. You can see them playing tug of war with Ukraine's president at a highly contentious time.
ASHER: Friday's blow-up in the Oval Office has provided material for late night hosts, internet memes, and, of course, "Saturday Night Live."
GOLODRYGA: Good old "SNL." The show began with a humorous reenactment of the confrontation. The cast took on the roles of the President, Vice
President, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy with special guest Mike Myers playing Elon Musk. There you see him. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAMES AUSTIN JOHNSON, AMERICAN COMEDIAN AND ACTOR: I'd like to welcome President Zelenskyy here to this incredible trap. It's going to be a big
beautiful trap and we're going to attack him very soon for no reason, right J.D.?
BOWEN YANG, AMERICAN COMEDIAN AND ACTOR: Watch out because this kitty's got claws.
MIKEY DAY, AMERICAN COMEDIAN AND ACTOR: Mr. President, with all due respect.
YANG: Excuse me? I'm sorry. What? I'm sorry. I have to jump in here because that's how we plan this. What happened to thank you? OK? Remember thank
you? You haven't said thank you to us once in the past 15 seconds up and yelled at you.
JOHNSON: You're not even wearing a suit. It's disrespectful. Who shows up to the White House in a t-shirt and jeans like a garbage person?
[12:55:05]
MIKE MYERS, CANADIAN ACTOR AND COMEDIAN: Donald, what are you doing in my office? You know I'm the president now, right? I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
Maybe not, maybe not.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GOLODRYGA: OK. Given --
ASHER: Mike Myers.
GOLODRYGA: -- where we were on Friday, watching what had evolved, right? And now we can laugh about it.
ASHER: We can make a fun all about it.
GOLODRYGA: Unbelievable what's happened over the course of three days. We needed that laugh over the weekend though. Great to see Mike Myers.
ASHER: I laughed every two seconds watching that.
GOLODRYGA: And I'm so happy we have an extra hour with you.
ASHER: That's right.
GOLODRYGA: This has been great. We are really fortunate.
ASHER: Thank God we actually like each other.
GOLODRYGA: A lot. We do. We do. And we are fortunate to have an extra hour with you.
That does it of two hours now of ONE WORLD. I'm Bianna Golodryga.
ASHER: I'm Zain Asher. Appreciate you watching. "AMANPOUR" is up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
END
